Fans of Sonic Youth may still be struggling to get over the presumed end of the legendary noise-rock band following the Thurston Moore/Kim Gordon split, but there is good news ahead: The band’s four members all will be on tour in the U.S. this fall — albeit separately, for the most part — and three of the four have new music due out later this year.
First up is Gordon, whose Body/Head, an improvisational guitar duo with Bill Nace, will release its debut album, Coming Apart, on Matador Records on Sept. 10. The duo also opens a U.S. tour that same day in Brooklyn, and will perform throughout September and early October.
Lee Ranaldo is set to follow up 2012’s Between the Times and the Tides with the first album under his new band’s name, Lee Ranaldo and The Dust, which features Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley as well as Alan Licht and Tim Luntzel. The album’s title and release date have not yet been announced, but it is expected out in October, also on Matador.
Ranaldo and Shelley will be touring throughout October and again in December.
Finally, Moore’s new band, Chelsea Light Moving, which released its debut album earlier this year, will head back out onto the road in the U.S. in late October and November.
See full dates below:
Chelsea Light Moving (featuring Thurston Moore) tour dates:
Oct. 27: Local 506, Carrboro, NC
Oct. 28: 40 Watt Club, Athens, GA
Oct. 30: Bottletree, Birmingham, AL
Oct. 31: The Earl, Atlanta, GA
Nov. 1: Club Downunder, Talahassee, FL
Nov. 2: Orpheum, Tampa, FL
Nov. 4: One Eyed Jacks, New Orleans, FL
Nov. 7: Trees, Dallas, TX
Nov. 8-10: Fun Fun Fun Fest, Austin, TX
Nov. 11: Exit/Inn, Nashville, TN
Nov. 13: Ottobar, Baltimore, MD
Body/Head (featuring Kim Gordon) tour dates:
Sept. 10: Union Pool, Brooklyn, NY
Sept. 12: The Echo, Los Angeles, CA
Sept. 13: San Diego Music Thing, San Diego, CA (Featured presentation by Kim)
Sept. 14: The Casbah, San Diego, CA
Sept. 21: Boomslang Festival, Lexington, KY
Sept. 24: Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
Sept. 25: Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit, MI
Oct. 2: Westobou Festival – Sacred Heart Cultural Center, Augusta, GA
Lee Ranaldo and The Dust (featuring Steve Shelley) tour dates:
Oct. 8: Club Helsinki, Hudson, NY
Oct. 9: Tralf Music Hall, Buffalo, NY
Oct. 11: Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, ON
Oct. 12: Trinosophes, Detroit, MI
Oct. 13: The Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL
Oct. 14: High Noon Saloon, Madison, WI
Oct. 15: Triple Rock, Minneapolis, MN
Oct. 17: Gabe’s, Iowa City, IA
Oct. 18: The Waiting Room, Omaha, NE (with Built to Spill)
Oct. 19: The Bottleneck, Lawrence, KS (with Built to Spill)
Oct. 20: The Firebird, St. Louis, MO (with Built to Spill)
Oct. 22: Exit/Inn, Nashville, TN
Oct. 23: The Grey Eagle, Asheville, NC
Oct. 25: The Bell House, New York, NY
Dec. 6: Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR
Dec. 7: Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver, BC
Dec. 8: Barboza, Seattle, WA
Dec. 11: The Chapel, San Francisco, CA
Dec. 13: The Echo, Los Angeles, CA
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- ‘120 Minutes’ Rewind: The Sisters of Mercy, Sonic Youth, Nitzer Ebb at Reading — 1991
- Video: Kim Gordon, Steve Jones, J Mascis, Aimee Mann send off SNL’s Fred Armisen
- Thurston Moore’s ‘iconic’ Sonic Youth black Jazzmaster guitar stolen in Philadelphia
- Sonic Youth to release ‘Smart Bar – Chicago 1985’ archival live album in November
- Video: Sonic Youth in Sao Paulo, Brazil — watch what could be band’s final concert
- Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon announce separation; future of Sonic Youth uncertain
As a huge fan growing up of their early work, i.e. Bad Moon Rising, Sister, Daydream, Goo, etc- they single handedly put on the absolute worst and boring show i have ever seen in my life- so bad, we left halfway through. It was like seeing a bunch of old people playing quiet muzak over the supermarket loudspeaker. I’m definitely not sad they’re broken up.
You are bat-shit crazy.
Have got lots of respect for Sonic Youth (and had a major crush on Kim Gordon long ago!), but have only seen them live once, and that experience was very similar to Batshiz Crazay’s. They played at the ’98 Fuji Rock Fest and had an afternoon slot, so were far from being the headliners. Their set was like a tune-free soundcheck that sent the world-famously polite Japanese fans away in droves. I remember feeling embarrassed for the band as more and more people headed elsewhere. At least on that day, it felt more like the band was just phoning it in as opposed to the fans not getting it.
Compare that to Iggy Pop’s evening set, when his “Get up here, Tokyo motherfuckers!!!” invitations resulted in a joyously chaotic international monster bash.